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Homosexuality is not in your DNA, he tells 'ex-gay' meeting
Bruce C Hafen
Mormon leader says Satan makes you gay
An elder of the Mormon church has addressed an "ex-gay" therapy conference, telling the audience that homosexuality is not in their DNA and that they could avoid same-sex attractions if they could resist the persuasions of Satan.
Bruce C Hafen was speaking in Salt Lake City, Utah, at the 19th annual conference of Evergreen International, a non-profit group that aims to help Mormons "overcome homosexual behaviour" and "diminish same-sex attraction".
According to the Salt Lake Tribune, Hafen called the devil "the adversary" who tries to "convince you that you are hopelessly 'that way' so that acting out your feelings is inevitable; he is lying...He is the father of lies...If you are faithful, on resurrection morning - and maybe even before then - you will rise with normal attractions for the opposite sex."
Hafen told the conference that same-sex attraction is "not in your DNA", claimed that recent studies by the American Psychological Association (APA) which concluded that "ex-gay" therapy was futile were politically motivated, and derided the APA's 1973 decision to remove homosexuality from the psychiatric manual of sexual disorders.
He said: "In the early 1970s, the public and most lawyers, doctors and therapists saw homosexuality not as normal adult behaviour but as a psychological disorder. We have witnessed primarily an aggressive political movement more than we've witnessed substantive change in the medical or legal evidence."
The APA's recent report said that there is no evidence to suggest that sexual orientation can be changed through therapy and that mental health professionals should help patients "explore life paths that address the reality of their sexual orientation".
Lisa Diamond, a University of Utah psychology professor and researcher, told the Tribune that Hafen's assertions were "hilarious" and "absolutely untrue" and described the APA's 1973 decision as "a triumph of science over prejudice."
